Author Joel M. Hoffman Turns to Fiction With THE WARWICK FILES

The series, published by Uniquely Books, features a police chief with a secretive past and is set in a quiet New York City suburb where, according to the official count, no spies live. The first story, "Checkpoint," opens with an unknown man who evades a police checkpoint and inadvertently causes his own murder. Only Police Chief Goodman knows why, and he sets out to track down the shooter.

The next two stories in the series, "Revenge" and "Sting," are slated for publication in early 2013.

Hoffman authored two non-fiction books, In the Beginning (NYU Press, 2004) and And God Said (Thomas Dunne Books / St. Martin's Press, 2010) and contributed to over a dozen others before writing The Warwick Files.

Asked about his transition from non-fiction to thrillers, Hoffman said that he has been toying with the idea since his first book, primarily an analysis of ancient Hebrew, was lauded as a "history that reads like an adventure novel." He explains that he hasn't left non-fiction, but "sometimes you just want something really fun to read."

Hoffman signs his non-fiction with his full name and title, and his fiction with the shorter "J.M. Hoffman."

Hoffman adds that he's always wanted a cameo appearance in a movie based on one of his books, and while he hasn't fully given up on playing a rare ancient Hebrew verb form in a film adapted from his first work, he assumes that The Warwick Files has a better chance of making it to the silver screen.